This invention relates to a jointing element for a compoundable unit structure, in particular a show window, and the compoundable unit structure using said jointing element.
The compoundable unit structures, and in particular show windows, which have been constructed up to the present time are notably formed substantially from an assembly of panels or glass panes engaged at their edges by jointing elements, or are formed from panels or glass panes and a lattice of tubes or the like which surrounds the panels or glass panes. The compoundable unit structures formed from panels or tubes are evidently much stronger and more stable than single panes of glass, and allow large dimension show windows and displays to be formed which are able to support considerable forces. These compoundable unit structures considered by the present invention comprise, in known manner, jointing elements which connect and fix the tubes together, while the panels or glass panes are held by clips or bent plates or the like, constructed independently, and shaped to engage a tube at one end and a panel at the other end. Where the panels are disposed in a horizontal position, a bridge-shaped bar for example is disposed with its opposing ends resting on and engaging with two mutually perpendicular tubes, while its intermediate part supports one corner of a panel.
Even though these structures at first sight appear simple and easy to construct, they present certain particularly important disadvantages. In this respect, the fact of having to use a number of different elements in assembling a show window or the like, such as tube jointing elements, clips for the vertical panels and bridges or the like for the horizontal panels, implies both considerable inconvenience in the transporting and procurement of the various elements, and high cost deriving from the sum of the costs of all said elements. Moreover, the plates, clips, bridges and the like, constructed of sheet metal or plastics, are easily deformed, and it is therefore possible for several parts of the structure, once assembled, to be unsteady or badly disposed. Moreover, as the clips and the like may be freely positioned along the tubes of the show window, the panel connections may turn out to be irrational and unbalanced, with very concentrated forces on some clips and a corresponding substantial fragility of the structure. Finally, it cannot be ignored that the clips, plates, bridges and the like necessarily at least partly surround the tubes in order to engage with them, so interrupting the line of the tube and producing a particularly unpleasant aesthetic effect, bearing in mind that the appearance of a show window is a very important characteristic of it.